AbstractWe report the discovery of EPIC 201702477b, a transiting brown dwarf in a long period (40.73691 ± 0.00037 day) and eccentric (e = 0.2281 ± 0.0026) orbit. This system was initially reported as a planetary candidate based on two transit events seen in K2 Campaign 1 photometry and later validated as an exoplanet candidate. We confirm the transit and refine the ephemeris with two subsequent ground-based detections of the transit using the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope 1 m telescope network. We rule out any transit timing variations above the level of ̃30 s. Using high precision radial velocity measurements from HARPS and SOPHIE we identify the transiting companion as a brown dwarf with a mass, radius, and bulk density of 66.9 ± 1.7 M J, 0.757 ± 0.065 R J, and 191 ± 51 g cm-3 respectively. EPIC 201702477b is the smallest radius brown dwarf yet discovered, with a mass just below the H-burning limit. It has the highest density of any planet, substellar mass object, or main-sequence star discovered so far. We find evidence in the set of known transiting brown dwarfs for two populations of objects—high mass brown dwarfs and low mass brown dwarfs. The higher-mass population have radii in very close agreement to theoretical models, and show a lower-mass limit around 60 M J. This may be the signature of mass-dependent ejection of systems during the formation process.

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) is a new but long anticipated research infrastructure with a national dimension. It embodies a bold but feasible vision for the development of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, taking full advantage and fully realizing the potential created by the national membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). IA resulted from the merging the two most prominent research units in the field in Portugal: the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP) and the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL). It currently hosts more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in the area of Space Sciences. This is the scientific area with the highest relative impact factor (1.65 times above the international average) and the field with the highest average number of citations per article for Portugal.